By Tim Mastro

The national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline is officially up and running.

As of Saturday, the new 988 number is accepting phone calls, texts and online chats 24/7 from anyone needing behavioral health crisis support or anyone who is concerned about a loved one. It’s designed to be as easy to remember and use as the 911 emergency number and will connect callers with trained mental health counselors.

The Delaware Division of Health and Social Services said this is a federally required telecom change and Delaware, like every state, has been preparing for it. Along with a multidisciplinary 988 Planning Coalition, the state has also developed a plan to ensure at least 90% of the 988 contacts by Delawareans can be answered by counselors in Delaware by mid-2023.

The division said during the first year of the hotline, people with a Delaware area code who dial the 988 number will be connected with ContactLifeline, Delaware’s only lifeline center, which has been operating in the state since 1974. As early as the end of 2022, Delaware will add a second lifeline center operated by the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

The new 988 number came from the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020. The bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to designate 988 as the universal telephone number for those undergoing a mental health crisis.

The federal government has provided over $280 million to help states create systems that will do much more, including mobile mental health crisis teams that can be sent to people’s homes and emergency mental health centers, similar to urgent care clinics that treat physical aches and pains.

The 988 system builds on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, an existing network of over 200 crisis centers nationwide staffed by counselors who answer millions of calls each year — about 2.4 million in 2020. Calls to the old lifeline, 1-800-273-8255, will still go through even with 988 in place.

“If we can get 988 to work like 911 … lives will be saved,’’ U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said.

Delawareans can continue to use existing crisis hotline services as additional resources, especially if an in-person response is needed. The Adult Crisis Hotline is 1-800-652-2929 for Northern Delaware, 1-800-345-6785 for Southern Delaware and the Youth Crisis Hotline: 1-800-969-HELP (4357).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.